Made Marian: Oozing Crafty Goodness

I was just thinking that this time last year I was still buying overpriced, mass-produced cards and I had not discovered the joy that is making something for someone else to enjoy!  I still have hundreds of crafty avenues to explore but at least I’ve taken those first steps.  So my advice to everyone for 2009 is take those first steps, whatever you’ve been putting off all these years, whether it’s taking up the knitting needles, volunteering at a local charity or joining a soccer team….Go for it!

I also want to wish everyone who reads the blog a very Happy and Crafty New Year.  Enjoy the celebrations whatever you have planned

I’ve just submitted my nominations for the 2009 Irish Blog Awards.   The Awards are being held on February 21st in Cork.  To say that I am looking forward to it is a massive understatement. I CANNOT WAIT.  It’s the most fantastic night for anyone involved in blogging, meeting up with people that you’ve not seen since last year or meeting new bloggers or people that you missed last time round.

The tradition has been for meeting up on the afternoon of the awards with some like minded bloggers, last year I attended the Ladies Tea Party which was a great success.  I’m thinking of trying to organise a pre-awards Stitch ‘n’ Bitch.  If anyone is interested or has an opinion in a venue please let me know through the comments or the contact button.  The gathering would be open to all even if you just want to come for a chat, if you want a knitting/crochet lesson you would be more than welcome too.

In the meantime however, you can find out more about the awards and how to nominate etc here.

Just a quick note to say Happy Christmas to anyone that might be stopping by.  Enjoy whatever the festive season means to you.  I have already opened many of my presents and there is definitely a crafty theme going on with my loved ones

Anyway, eat drink, be merry and crafty!!

You know it’s Christmas.   Here are some of the Christmas cards I’m sending this year.   There are loads of great little kits in the shops at the moment.  The stick and go ones are fantastic, most of those kits come with the blank cards as well.  You should definitely give it a go for some of your cards this year.  I had about 3 packs of Christmas embellishments but I managed to get 10 cards out of them by using a bit of imagination

I’m so sorry for the delay in posting about this. I was delighted to have been chosen as a contributer to the book Homepages.  Catherine has done an amazing job with this book and there is endless credit due to her.  I’ve ordered my copy and you should do the same.  The proceeds are going to Focus Ireland. I can’t wait to get my copy in the post.

A few weeks ago, I was interviewed by a journalist for a piece in the Sunday Tribune Magazine, the article is here in full.  It was a great opportunity rant on about how great handmade Christmas gifts are

I was delighted to find this pattern on the Internet a while back and couldn’t wait to try it out.  I used some leftover acrylic yarn and decorated with buttons.  This is a very simple tree ornament, if you’ve any experience of crochet at all, give it a go. One of the commenters on the pattern itself mentioned that they made them as pins for their friends.  The ones I’ve made have been a little bit too big for that, but if you had some finer yarn and smaller hooks that would work nicely.

This is the simplest of scarves, just cast on 25 stitches and knit away til it’s long enough. I bought three balls of Tivoli Flair Tones and that will be just enough for a cozy scarf for my better half’s Grandmother.  She more often than not wears pink sweaters so I picked out a yarn that has a few different shades of pink.  The result is a self striping scarf.

This is the last of my handmade gifts, so once I have this done I can concentrate on some more fun crafts for the festive season.

Despite a few “what have I gotten myself into” moments I have to say that handmaking my gifts has been a generally positive experience.  I reduced our joint Christmas budget considerably from previous years but a lot more effort has gone into our gifts this year.  There was only one voucher on my shopping list this year but that was specifically requested so that the recipient could be kitted out for Christmas nights out in the student haunts of UCC. So I think we can be forgiven for that